


Needed Revision to the Pain-o-Meter

by Team_Two_Cats



Series: Suikovember 2020 [12]
Category: Suikoden Series (Video Games), Suikoden Tierkreis
Genre: Doctors & Physicians, Gen, Pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:08:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27757408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team_Two_Cats/pseuds/Team_Two_Cats
Summary: Suikovember 2020 Day 28 Prompt: HealingDiiwica has some muscle pain and makes the mistake of going to see Zahra thinking he'll be helpful.
Series: Suikovember 2020 [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019115
Kudos: 2





	Needed Revision to the Pain-o-Meter

Zahra rubs his hands together. “Well, what do we have _here_?” he asks.

“She’s of the Auster Folk,” Eunice says.

Zahra approaches, hands clasped in front of him, eyes, on the horn protruding from her forehead. “Of course of course,” he says. “Appears largely humanoid. No obvious fur aside from the normal on the head. But that…horn? It looks fleshed. That’s…interesting.”

He reaches toward it and Diiwica slaps his had away. “Gonna stop you right there, okay?” she says. “You _do not_ just touch someone’s horn.”

“Ho _ho_ ,” Zahra says. “Strong, too. I would have guessed, from your physique, but yeouch, that stung a bit.” He shakes his hand and then sticks the tip of his thumb between his teeth.

“I was told this is a place of healing?” Diiwica asks.

Eunice steps around Zahra and nods, using her clipboard as a kind of shield between her and the Auster woman. “This is! Welcome to the infirmary. Is there something we can help you with?”

“Uh…I wrenched my back yesterday while I was training,” Diiwica says. “I was hoping that maybe you’d have something for it? Herbs or something I could apply to ease the pain?”

Zahra steps over to the wall nearby, where he has a series of charts. He points to one of them, a series of round faces with varying expressions.

“Well, first thing to do would be to determine the level of pain you’re in,” he says. “Tell me, what of these faces seems to match your level of pain?”

Diiwica frowns and looks at the chart. On the far left there is a smiling face. Then one with a smaller smile. Then smaller. Then smaller still. Then a neutral face. Then ones in increasing levels of grimace. She narrows her eyes, studying the chart.

Finally, she points at smiling-est face. “Definitely that one.”

Zahra purses his lips and strokes his chin, looking between her and the chart. “I think maybe there’s some confusion. That’s what you feel right at the moment?”

She shakes her head. “No, that’s what my _pain_ feels like at the moment. Smug. Very pleased with itself.” She points again at the grinning-est face.

Zahra sighs and rubs his eyes with one hand. “Okay, sorry, I might have missed some of the instructions. The faces are supposed to represent _you_. Just point to the face that best represents how _you_ feel with your current level of pain.”

Diiwica squints and looks back at the pictures. She points at the neutral face. “That one, then.”

Zahra claps. “Excellent! Well, but, that doesn’t really seem so bad. That’s a four on my innovative Pain-o-Meter. Probably nothing to worry too much about. I guess we could—”

Eunice clears her throat. “Excuse me, doctor, but we should establish a baseline first. You know that pain isn’t always universal and the patient is not a human.”

Zahra sighs and grumbles.

“It would be an opportunity to amass more knowledge about different species and how they experience pain. It might lead to further refinement of your Pain-o-Meter.”

Zahra seems to consider this a moment, then nods. “Okay, fair. So, okay, to get this right, please tell us first which face represents you with _no_ pain.”

Diiwica looks at the picture. Points at the neutral one.

“And if you were feeling a mild pain, say a headache.”

The neutral face.

“And if you had just broken your leg.”

The neutral face.

“If you were literally on fire.”

The neutral face.

“I’m not sure you’d doing this right at all.”

“Showing pain is a sign of weakness,” Diiwica says. “If we were still in the Order, I would simply accept that my back was destined to be in pain until it stopped. But I have been trying to amend my thinking. Even if that were true, after all, it’s equally likely I was destined to seek out aid for the discomfort. But if you are unable to treat me…”

“I never said that!” Zahra says. “Though I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to learn from your pain if we don’t share a way of quantifying that pain. Perhaps if I were able to monitor your brain somehow, but that would require major surgery and—”

“That’s out of the question, of course, doctor,” Eunice says.

“What? Oh, yes, of course. Unfortunately.”

“Is it that you don’t have a medicinal balm for soar muscles? I can seek elsewhere if that’s the case. I just assumed that it would be covered by the castle healers.”

“Hmph!” Zahra says.

“Now doctor, don’t be upset,” Eunice says. Then, to Diiwica. “Yes, of course we have some herbal treatments that can help with muscle strain. The doctor is only trying to use his methods…which obviously need to be amended.”

“There is nothing wrong with my Pain-o-Meter!”

Eunice goes to the cupboards and finds a jar of salve. “This should be approved ev—”

“Think fast!” Zahra shouts, and jumps at Diiwica. The Auster woman hardly blinks, though, and catches an outstretched wrist in one hand and turns, using Zahra’s momentum to throw him directly into the wall. The chart of faces snaps in half.

“Doctor what are you doing?!” Eunice demands, rushing forward. He’s bleeding from his nose and a split lip and she can tell that his shoulder is at least dislocated.

“Just, uh, seeing how bad the injury was,” he says. “I think—urgk—that maybe the stronger salve is required.”

“But how did that—”

“There was a small hesitation and overcorrection when the patient caught me and threw me into the wall, suggesting considerable pain. The regular salve will—eerg—not be sufficient. Truly fascinating.”

Eunice sighs and stands, then returns to the cupboard and gets out a jar of the stronger salve.

“Apply this to your back every three hours until a few days after the pain subsides,” Eunice says. “Do you need any instructions on how, or would you like assistance the first time?”

Diiwica looks from the doctor, still crumpled against the wall, to Eunice. She almost seems to…blush, then reaches down and takes the jar. “N-no, that’s okay,” she says. “Thanks!”

And she retreats out the door. Eunice smiles, then turns back to Zahra with a huff.

“Was that really necessary?” she asks. “Seriously, every time an attractive woman comes in here, you…”

“Sorry to trample on your possible romantic adventures with advancing medical science and understanding.”

Eunice rolls her eyes. She tempted to just take off, offer to apologize to Diiwica by way of dinner. But she knows that if she doesn’t stay and help, Zahra will end up doing something else stupid and won’t even see to his own wounds. Truly, doctors make the worst patients.

**Author's Note:**

> Zahra does just need to get his ass beat sometime to really drive home the whole boundaries thing...


End file.
